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UK vows to arm Ukrainians with advanced weapons after Putin’s hypersonic missile strike on Lviv
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The Ministry of Defence has announced it will develop new tactical ballistic missiles for Ukraine, code-naming the initiative “Project Nightfall”.
Defence secretary John Healey said the UK was determined to arm Ukrainians with advanced weapons to fight back against Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
The new missiles will have a conventional 200kg warhead and be capable of striking targets at a range of 500km – deep inside Russian territory.
Healey said last week’s hypersonic missile strike on western Ukraine showed “how Putin thinks he can act with impunity, targeting civilian areas with advanced weaponry”.
The defence secretary was in the Ukrainian capital when that attack took place, and heard the air raid sirens at the time.
Later on Monday the UN Security Council is due to hold an emergency meeting to discuss Russia’s use of its Oreshnik hypersonic missile just 60 miles from the border of Nato member Poland.
Russia has claimed the Oreshnik strike was retaliation for an attempted Ukrainian drone attack on one of Putin’s residences, an allegation Kyiv denies.
Sweden will spend 15bn Swedish kronor (£1.2bn) on upgrading its air defences, the government said on Sunday.
Sweden has, like most European countries, invested heavily in defence following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, Sweden’s vast territory has remained vulnerable to aerial threats.
“The experience from the war in Ukraine clearly shows how crucial a robust and resilient air defence is,” defence minister Pal Jonson told reporters at a security conference in northern Sweden.
He said Sweden would buy short-range air defence systems to protect cities, bridges, power plants and other critical infrastructure.
On Sunday, Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson criticised the Trump administration’s “threatening rhetoric” against Greenland and Denmark, saying the US should thank Denmark for being a loyal ally.
The UK says it will develop new tactical ballistic missiles for Kyiv and put “leading-edge weapons into the hands of Ukrainians” for their fight against Russia.
Code-named “Project Nightfall”, the missiles will help boost Ukrainian firepower and be capable of striking targets deep inside Russia, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement late on Sunday.
The Nightfall missiles will carry a 200kg conventional high-explosive warhead and cost a maximum £800,000 per unit, the MoD announced, adding that it plans to produce 10 systems per month.
More than 1,000 apartment buildings in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv were still without heating following a devastating Russian attack earlier this week, local authorities said on Sunday.
Russia has intensified bombardments of Ukraine’s energy system since it invaded its neighbour in 2022.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched 1,100 drones, more than 890 guided aerial bombs and over 50 missiles, including ballistic, cruise and medium-range weapons, against Ukraine over the past week.
On Friday, a missile strike on Kyiv left virtually the entire city without power and heating amid a sharp cold snap, and it was not until Sunday that authorities restored water supplies and partially restored electricity and heating.
Chechen leader and close Russian ally Ramzan Kadyrov is undergoing dialysis due to kidney failure, sources in Ukraine’s defence intelligence said, according to local media reports.
Kadyrov’s health has deteriorated, according to local Ukrainian outlets Interfax-Ukraine and Ukrinform.
Kadyrov is a key ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin and seen as one of the most powerful and feared men in Moscow.
He has reportedly been admitted to a private hospital in Chechnya where his family members have gathered, including some who have travelled in from abroad.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said that his forces were working on new operations targeting Russia, alongside those that are already underway.
“It is still too early to speak publicly about some of the operations – ones that the Russians have already felt. Some of the operations are still underway. I also approved new ones,” he said.
“We are actively defending ourselves, and every Russian loss brings the end of the war closer. Our deep strikes, special measures – all of this, of course, must continue,” the war-time president said.
As Prime Minister Keir Starmer signs a historic deal to deploy British troops to Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement with Russia, questions are mounting over whether the UK is ready for such a commitment.
Sir Richard Shirreff, former deputy commander of Nato, cautiously welcomed the pledge, but stressed that any UK deployment must “have the right numbers, the means, and there’s got to be proper capabilities.”
He told LBC this week: “There’s not going to be a peace until Russia is forced into it. At least now there is a clear plan from France and the UK to provide a reassurance force or an enforcement force.”
Other experts have also cautioned that a deployment of 10,000 troops could strain the Regular Army, the RAF, and the Royal Navy, and that significantly larger numbers would be needed to have any real impact on the ground.
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The UK has announced it will develop new tactical ballistic missiles under Project Nightfall to put “leading edge weaponsinto the hands of Ukrainians”.
The ballistic missiles will boost Ukraine’s firepower to defend itself from Russian president Vladimir Putin’s war machine, the Ministry of Defence said last night.
“Under Project Nightfall, the UK has launched a competition to rapidly develop ground-launched ballistic missiles with a range of more than 500 kilometres and designed to operate in high-threat battlefields with heavy electromagnetic interference,” it said.
The missiles will allow Ukrainian forces to hit key military targets before Russian forces can respond as the Nightfall missiles will be “capable of being launched from a range of vehicles, firing multiple missiles in quick succession and withdrawing within minutes”, the ministry said.
“With a 200kg conventional high explosive warhead, high precision production rate of 10 systems per month and a maximum price of £800,000 per missile, NIGHTFALL is intended to provide Ukraine with a powerful, cost-effective long-range strike option, with minimal foreign export controls,” the MoD said.
As Ukraine is gripped by a bitter cold snap, more than one million people have been left without heating and electricity as Russia ramps up attacks on energy infrastructure.
Elderly residents and those with vulnerable family members told The Independent they are cold and unable to cook proper meals as they face temperatures as low as -15C.
Despondent and fearing death, many are struggling through the winter as blackouts plunge Ukraine’s cities into darkness, lit up only by the bright flash of Russian drone and missile attacks.
“It gives you depression,” 33-year-old Dnipro resident Kyril Tulenev says. “You cannot do anything. You cannot check the news. You cannot properly use your things. Sometimes you cannot call anyone because there is no connection.”
Read the full report by Alex Croft:
Dark, freezing and depressed: More than a million Ukrainians struggling without heat or water after Russian attacks
Russia has launched an overnight air attack on Kyiv, sparking a fire in one of the city’s districts, the Ukrainian military said this morning.
Ukrainian air defence units were trying to repel the attack, Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on his Telegram channel.
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